Page 51 - UKRRptSept18

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Ukrainian gas reserves grew by 86.3% since April 9 and underground storage facilities were 44.7% full as of August 18, about two months before the heating season starts.
Ukraine’s state-owned gas monopolist Naftogaz has not bought any natural gas from Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom for more than 1,000 days , counting from November 26, 2015, according to local media. For the 2015-2017 winter periods, Ukraine did not purchase gas from Russia and instead imported gas from Russian clients in Europe, such as Slovakia and Poland, by reverse flows and with a mark-up in price. In 2017, Ukraine increased imports of gas by 26.8%, or 2.972bn cubic metres (cm), to 14.05bn cm. Imports from Slovakia amounted to 9.91bn cm, from Hungary 2.835bn cm, and from Poland 1.305bn cm. From 2018, Naftogaz should import 5bn cm annually under its contract with Gazprom through 2019, and has to pay for at least 80% of that, according to a Stockholm arbitration court ruling. That volume is worth as much as $1.2bn per year, assuming 5bn cm is supplied at the average price that Ukraine paid for imports last October, according to Bloomberg . In January, Naftogaz said it is ready to resume purchasing natural gas from Russia’s Gazprom as early as the first quarter of 2018. "I think so. If everything goes according to the plan and Gazprom is adequate on the issue of implementing the Stockholm ruling - because a certain amount of paperwork must be completed - we will begin buying," the company's CEO Andriy Kobolev said at the time.
Ukraine's state-owned natural gas monopoly Naftogaz is set to increase the price of gas sold to industrial consumers on a prepayment basis by UAH469.2, or 4.6% month-on-month, to UAH10,600 ($379) for 1,000 cubic meters (including VAT) from early September. In October 2015, Ukraine cancelled state regulation for gas prices for all categories of consumers, except for the population and heating companies for the needs of the population. According to Naftogaz, this price is relevant for consumers buying gas on a prepayment basis in the amount of more than 50,000 cubic metres per month, provided that there are no debts to the company, and for 100% subsidiaries of the company, Interfax news agency reported on August 17. The price next month will also increase for other buyers by 4.6% m/m, to UAH11,594 per 1,000 cubic meters (including VAT).
Gazprom requested permission from Ukraine to increase the amount of gas it sends through the Uzhgorod corridor to 170mn cubic meters in comparison with the low 110-137mn cubic meters it sent during August 7-17, according to the Slovak gas transportation operator Eustream said on August 19. In early August Gazprom reduced gas supplies in natural terms to Europe via Ukraine and Belarus, despite the absence of repairs and accidents on the gas transportation system of Ukraine, Slovakia and the central part of Russia. The decrease in supplies led to a drop in the average daily transit through Ukraine (in all directions) during August 1-18 to 237.7mn cubic meters compared with 272.8mn cubic meters per day in July and 253.3mn cubic meters per day in June. As reported, Ukraine in January-July 2018 reduced transit of natural gas through its GTS by 4.2% (by 2.252bn cubic meters) compared to the same period in 2017, to 50.946bn cubic meters.
51 UKRAINE Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com